Adele Interviews Tobias Jesso Jr.

Tobias Jesso Jr. photo by James Marshall

Adele and Tobias Jesso Jr. recently teamed up to record “When We Were Young”, a track from Adele’s new album 25. Today, the Guardian has published a piece in which Adele interviews Jesso Jr. on topics ranging from favorite artists to dream collaborators and favorite books, movies, albums, road trip soundtracks, and singalongs. Read excerpts below, and head to the Guardian for the full article. Update (11/16 9:05 a.m.): A snippet of Adele performing “When We Were Young” appears in a new video shared by 60 Minutes Australia (via Disco Naïveté). Watch it below.

Adele begins with an introduction:

I loved Tobias Jesso Jr’s song, Hollywood, and I reached out to him when I was working on 25. I say I reached out… I got my manager to contact his manager. I’m pretty behind on social networking culture, I’d have no idea how to do it. Also I didn’t want to ask and have him say, “Absolutely not, I think you’re shit.” At least if my manager asks, he can absorb the rejection and just never tell me. Anyway, he was well up for it.

Asked who he’d most like to work with, Jesso Jr. replies:

Well it was you, ha ha, before we worked together. I guess now that that dream is realised, I’d say Kanye or Drake. I often find myself writing little ditties I can imagine becoming rap songs. Not the actual rapping part, just the chorus. I think a couple of the ideas we had when we worked together would be good for rap songs!

Asked about his favorite artist, he says:

Awkward. You, ha ha, and Randy Newman. I think it’s really important to believe in the artists you like, and I always had a huge respect for you being true to yourself, and believed it. I don’t like flashy, in-your-face kind of things, I prefer modest. And Randy is a boss and literally couldn’t act different if he tried.

Read the full interview at the Guardian.

Update: Watch 60 Minutes Australia’s preview of their Adele interview, featuring a performance clip of her Jesso Jr. collaboration. (It starts around the 1:30 mark.)

A WORLD EXCLUSIVE | Music superstar @Adele opens her heart and her studio – 8.10 SUNDAY on #60Mins https://t.co/VCri6PZQh8

— 60 Minutes Australia (@60Mins) November 16, 2015

Read our Rising interview with Jesso, and check out his Guest List.

Watch Adele’s “Hello” video:

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